Special Situations in Combat
Category:TSR Marvel Superhero role-playing games Dancing in the Dark: There are two types of darkness — Night and Dark. ANight situation is a reduction of available light, though light sources exist (city lights, the moon, the stars), while a Dark situation is one involving the elimination or total reduction of light (in a cavern or windowless building with the lights out, an overcast night in the country). Night is considered Typical Intensity darkness for FEATrolls. Maximum sight range is 5 areas, so weapons and Powers may not be fired beyond that range. Firing in darkness is done at -1CS, though normal melee combat may take place. Dark conditions are considered Excellent Intensity darkness unless stated otherwise (by Darkness Generation Powers, for example). Normal sight is limited to the immediate area of the character (about 2 feet). All FEATrolls are -2CS when in Dark conditions, including combat and use of Powers. Combat and Weather: Atmospheric conditions may also affect fighting. as noted in the cases below. For intensities, see the Intensity Table. Fog: Fog reduces normal sight to 1 area. Those firing weapons, using distance Powers. or throwing objects receive a -1CS penalty for fighting in fog. Rain: Firing objects, using distance Powers. or throwing objects receives a -1CS penalty. Aheavy rain extends this penalty to all FEATs. Rains slicken normal surfaces. so FEATs involving climbing or wall-crawling and control FEATs for vehicles are at -1CS. Heat: High temperatures reduce the fighting effectiveness of those involved. A temperature over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, or Good Intensity, results in a -1CS for all FEATs. Higher heats may result in those in the area checking every 10 rounds to avoid heat prostration if the Intensity of the Heat is greater than the Endurance of the character. Cold: Similarly, cold temperatures affect fighting ability. For temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (Good Intensity), all FEATs and damage are at -1CS. Material strengths are also reduced by one rank due to cold (except for ice, of course). Underwater Combat: Battle underwater reduces thrown objects by half range, and missile weapons are useless unless specifically designed to operate underwater. Powers operate at half range as well. Melee combat occurs as for Flight (more info in Players section), with all limitations, and at -1CS to hit. Characters with Water Breathing or Swimming Power are not limited in fighting and performing actions underwater, and may act normally. Combat in space and zero gravity: Zero gravity situations place their own restrictions on combat. All missile attacks and thrown objects have line of sight range. Any character may be stunned or slammed in zero-gee. Certain characters can survive in deep space for extended periods of time, not requiring to eat or breathe. Others must deal with Monstrous Intensity cold and total lack of air in space. Judging Combat Results — Staggers, Slams, and Great Slams: Several results on the Battle Effects Table refer to the chance of Staggering or Slamming an opponent, or bestowing upon the character a Great Slam result. In these cases, if damage was inflicted, the attacker gets to choose the direction of the stagger, slam or great slam. Naturally the Judge may wish to not slam his player-characters into walls every time they get into combat. so the Judge can use the table below to determine direction of such attacks: Directions are taken from the target's point of view. Straight back means the direction the character came from or the direction the character was facing away from. Straight right and left are at 90 degrees to that position, Back left and Back right are 45 degrees to that position. Straight up and Straight down are just what they sound like. Characters may take additional damage for charging into walls and other obstructions at high velocity, but do not take damage for being knocked through the floor in a "straight down" result. If the force of the blow is insufficient to knock a character through the floor, the character is Staggered instead. Ranged Weapons — Unintended Targets: A missile weapon that misses its intended target does not generally evaporate, but continues on its intended course to the limits of its range. Similarly, if a hero or villain fires into a melee. missing one target does not guarantee missing other targets. For this reason. the Judge may use the Unintended Target rules. When firing into a melee (group of characters fighting, grappling, or in close contact with each other), if a ranged attack misses the original target, the Judge should check other adjacent targets for a hit. The check may be made in any order available for adjacent characters, but any potential targets among those Friendly to the firer should come first, and then others. These rolls are made at -2CS to hit (as the original firer was not aiming at them). Example: Spider-Man is engaged in wrestling combat with three goons and the Fabulous Frog-Man. an "ally" of the web- slinger. Afourth goon fires a handgun into this melee aiming at Spider-Man. The shot misses. The Judge then checks for one of the goons (the order is up to the Judge — whoever is closest to the fourth goon, whoever is the biggest target, alphabetical order. whatever) to see if he is hit. This roll is at -2CS. Amiss indicates a check for the second goon on the same result column. If a miss, then a check for the third goon. Finally. if that one misses, check to see if the bullet hits the Fabulous Frog-Man, who is not on the same side as the goon who fired the gun. Similarly, if a missile weapon misses its target, it will continue to the limits of its range, or until it hits something. Weapons and Powers that are Line-of-sight in range diminish in potency as they travel farther, so that if such a Power or missile leaves the area of play without hitting anything. consider the missile to have caused no additional damage. Targets in the line of fire of missile attacks are attacked if the original target is missed at -2CS to hit. Use common sense here. If the Human Torch fires a fireball at a Dreadnought standing in front of a broad side of a barn, a shot that misses the Dreadnought will likely hit the barn. No roll is needed in this case. The -2CS is determined only for small or movable targets that could possibly be missed by the blast. In cases where stray shots hit windows, buildings, and fire hydrants, use a common sense version of the FEATroll to determine if damage was inflicted. In general, if the damage rank of the attack was greater than the material strength rank, some damage was done. If not, no damage was done. If the two are equal. roll (if it's important) a yellow FEATfor damage. The above paragraph notes "some damage is done.” How much is some? If the situation is critical (the stray shot may puncture a pressurized tank filled with volatile chemicals), figure damage normally. If the situation is non-critical (just ripping up sections of New York in a general slugfest) assume the material is sufficiently damaged to count against the character in Bad Karma for destroying property. Example: Cyclops fires a beam of his Excellent Intensity eye-blasts at a dodging Mastermind. The ruby beam continues up to its maximum 1 area range. then is no longer damaging. It strikes a window in that range, it will break. If the beam hits a wall of Incredible strength steel alloy, it will inflict no damage. If the beam hits a brick wall. and the strike may be critical (more than just damaging the neighborhood—say the brick wall is holding up a decaying building), check to see if the force beam knocks over the wall. Area attack weapons (grenades, webbing, explosive devices) affect all targets in the area of the attack, friend or foe.